by Joan Liu

Created on: May 21, 2010

In The God Delusion, Dawkins attempts to unseat religion’s dominating presence in our society. He declares it worthless, and imagines a better society without religion’s influence. Without religion, Dawkins says, there would be more tolerance, less conflict, less segregration, leading to a society that can finally identify themselves collectively as one. Extrapolate that wish further – no more war, no more counterproductive infighting – humanity can once again reach its golden age. Unfortunately, it does not matter how deeply Dawkins’ message is rooted in truth – if the roots aren’t allowed to sprout and spread, there is no use. Dawkins appeals to those that agree with him, but is ineffective at reaching is target audience. The God Delusion is like a stunted sapling, with great potential cut short by mismanagement.

                It is evident from the start that Dawkins is a scientific man. One can see it in the structure of The God Delusion – page after page filled with evidence and examples. Dawkins uses a very logical method to present his argument. He presents a short summary, following with  his hypothesis, and his supporting evidence. He then extrapolates and applies his hypothesis to “raise conciousness”, as he puts it. He believes by presenting readers with solid, irrefutable evidence, they will be convinced his argument is true. Dawkins excels at this; his strongest arguments are those presented with the most concrete evidence. In this way, Dawkins can appeal to other logical minds, the atheists and the skeptics. Where Dawkins is good at presenting his case fact by fact, he ultimately fails at appealing to the emotion aspects of religion.  He fails to realize that the readers he most needs to target, the believers, do not operate with a logical mind. He even acknowledges this fact in his book – stating that nothing exists above faith to these people. Dawkins seems to have realized this one weak point near the end of writing his book, hastily inserting a section dedicated to comfort in religion in at the end as a measly compensation. Dawkins needs to realize no matter how many examples he gives, no matter how many numbers, how many historical anecdotes, it will not be enough to cause the faithful to throw away the emotional crutch religion has become.

               

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